Any 'Must-Sees' in St. Louis?

[jeb6294]

I just found out were going to be heading to St. Louis for a week in February for work. Anything there that is a 'must see' in the downtown area? They're putting us up in the Drury right next to the Arch, but keep in mind that I'm not sure whether private transportation will be readily available (there are several of us going so I'd imagine were going to be piling into a couple Gov't cars and driving out together). Unfortunately, the only sports going on that I saw was the Blues -vs- Detroit that Tuesday. I enjoy watching hockey...until I saw how much tickets are...I don't enjoy it that much.

 

[FLBuff PE]

Try catching a cab to East St. Louis at about 2 in the morning. You'll have stories to tell the kiddies (assuming you survive).

In all seriousness, though, I am not that familiar with the St. Louis area. I've driven through several times, on my way to/from CO to/from FL, but that's it.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

The Anheuser-Busch brewery tour is pretty good.

 

[Dexman1349]

The Anheuser-Busch brewery tour is pretty good.

Forgot about that. Definately a good place to take the co-workers...

Most brewery's even offer a "short tour" which involves going straight to the taste testing room (at least the Coors brewery does in Golden, CO).

 

[Flyer_PE]

Try catching a cab to East St. Louis at about 2 in the morning. You'll have stories to tell the kiddies (assuming you survive).

The town of interest on the East side is Sauget. There's a place called Pop's over there that is a 24/7 night club. Sauget is also the epicenter of the St. Louis area gentlemens clubs. We used to hit a place called PT's when I was in college. There are some really interesting places on that side of the river.

Laclede's Landing is the local nightspot on the MO side. I haven't been there in over ten years so I have no idea what is any good there now.

 

[csb]

Go to Union Station. We stayed in the hotel there, but the architecture is really neat. Right inside the door is this arch that if you stand on one side and a friend stands on the other, you can hear the other talk very quietly. Kinda neat http://www.stlouisunionstation.com/index.cfm The train also goes straight there. Pretty good restaurant choice in there too.

And OF COURSE you must see the statically amazing St. Louis Arch, right?

 

[snickerd3]

Try catching a cab to East St. Louis at about 2 in the morning. You'll have stories to tell the kiddies (assuming you survive).

so true!!!

 

[snickerd3]

It's not quite beer and sports, but the Discovery Museum in St. Louis is AWESOME and free if you park on the planetarium side in the park. Everything is hands on...an engineers playground. I was super jealous of all the kids playing when we went. The overpass bridge is really cool.

 

[maryannette]

Take the ride up the arch.

If you're not scared!!!

 

[Kephart P.E.]

+1 on the Union Station area. A little bit sketchy at night, but overall lots to do.

One thing that really stuck out to me in my 3 weeks in St Louis was that all in all the food was very good almost everywhere we ate. Had some very good BBQ, Greek food, Steak houses etc.

I got bored after a while, I was staying in an area called Compton Heights, was pretty nice as I remember, but nothing really to do, so we got rooms out at the big casino. still pretty boring after a while, but it did entertain us for a couple of days.

 

[maryannette]

I've been there a couple of times and I had forgotten that the restaurants were very good.

And, I WAS too scared to go up in the arch.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I lived for nine months in fairview Heights IL. This was in the early nineties, and the gang problems in East St. Louis were horrible and reached into Fairview Heights when school let out and it was gang initiation time.

I did the arch when I was a kid and it was awesome!

 

[Road Guy]

X3 on the arch, it was pretty cool, you ride up to the top in the egg from mork'n'mindy!

 

[jeb6294]

Do you actually do anything in the arch or do you just ride to the top, take in the view, and then ride back down?

We're staying in the Drury Plaza about half a block over from the arch and right by Busch Stadium. It would have been nice if it was a little later in the year when the Cards were in town. Even as a Cincinnati Reds fan, I still would have liked to check out a Cards game there.

Drury's are always a very popular choice whenever we're out of town for a project because they usually have pretty decent FREE food. I think all of them do an actual hot breakfast bar and they're all supposed to have their new hot dinner stuff by the end of the year, i.e. chicken strips, egg rolls, meatballs, wings, baked potato bar, salad bar. Makes it really nice when you're getting paid for food and you can get it for free. When you're on the road for a project it makes for a nice fat per diem check. In this case, you can eat in a couple nights and it frees up a lot of money to be able to go out and splurge a little on a couple nice nights out.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I was 15 the last time I was up in the arch. The elevator was like being stuffed in a trash can laid over on its side. Unless they've made a lot of changes in the past 25 years, pretty much the only thing to do up there is take in the view.

 

[csb]

I think the elevator cars look like something from the original Willie Wonka movie. Once you're up there, it's just the view. It's a little unnerving, because on a windy day you can feel some slight sway to it. Both time I've been up I've got to look down onto a Cards game.

And I love free meals on per diem.

 

[snickerd3]

they had to shut down one side of the arch this past yr...it stopped working with people in the pods...not sure if they fixed that side yet.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I've never been there before, but have always wanted to see the arch and take in a Cards game.

 

[Flyer_PE]

they had to shut down one side of the arch this past yr...it stopped working with people in the pods...not sure if they fixed that side yet.

I'm not sure how I would handle being stuck in one of those little tin cans. At least there are seats in those things.

 

[snickerd3]

they had to shut down one side of the arch this past yr...it stopped working with people in the pods...not sure if they fixed that side yet.

I'm not sure how I would handle being stuck in one of those little tin cans. At least there are seats in those things.

i wouldn't call them seats...more just a small square of plastic. The hubby and I went up the arch a few yrs ago when we were in stlouis for a wedding, we had to lean forwards when seated...not exactly meant for tall people. I remember them being a little bigger, but guess that's what happens when you were like 9 the last time you went to the top of the arch.